Did you know buildings can deliver billions of dollars’ worth of public health benefits, including fewer hospitalizations and reduced climate impacts? A new study says that’s the case – if they’re energy-efficient buildings.

Experts at Harvard University examined a subset of green-certified buildings over a 16-year period in six countries: the U.S., Mainland China, India, Brazil, Germany and Turkey. Known as HEALTHfx, the study found nearly $6 billion in combined health and climate benefits.

Globally, 33,000 kilotons of CO2 were avoided, equivalent to 7.1 million fewer passenger cars on the road for one year.

This equates to:

$4.4 billion in estimated public health benefits from fewer:

Deaths

Hospital visits

Asthma Attacks

Respiratory symptoms

Lost days of work

Lost days of school

Resulting from:

$1.4 billion in estimated climate benefits from reductions in:

Carbon dioxide (CO2)

Methane (CH4)

Nitrous oxide (N2O)

This is all in addition to $7.5 billion in energy savings from the green-certified buildings studied. Considering that the buildings studied included only LEED® certified buildings, which are approximately one-third of the global green building stock, total benefits worldwide would be even greater.